Ch. 25: Gas PainsPresented by Derek Nordby

“There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch”• Every form of energy is going to come with a cost to

humans/the environment.• Hydropower

• Flooding of rivers and streams.• Oil & gas

• Land usage for drilling an pipelines.• Oil spills.

• Coal• Mines tear up the land.

• Hydrocarbon combustion• Large quantities of CO2 emissions.

Gas

• Hydraulic fracturing is used in extraction• Additives cause concerns about water regulations.• 2004: EPA study says that there is no evidence that

fracturing is a danger to drinking-water.• IPAA claims >1 million wells have been drilled in the

past 50 years and no documented cases of contaminated drinking-water.• Lustergarten reports on ground water contamination

in WY.• 2009: EPA does 2nd study and finds 11 of 34 wells

contaminated.

Politics

• Industry opponents want more federal oversight.• Determining where some companies are drilling.• While site locations are being limited, the U.S. still needs

many new wells.

Well Production

• Some new wells’ production will drop 80-90% within the first year.• Overall well productivity is also decreasing.• 1971: 435,000 ft3/day• 2008: 113,000 ft3/day

• Forces companies to look for new wells.• 2008: 60,000 new wells in U.S.

Upsides• Gas industry continues to improve.• Drilling from farther away.

• TCU Horned Frogs’ stadium.

• Water usage is not as big of a deal as it’s made out to be.• Marcellus Shale (Pennsylvania)

• If increased to drilling 3,000 wells/year• 30 million gallons of water each day

• Pennsylvania electric sector• ~5.9 billion gallons/day (200x more than natural gas projections)

Conclusion• Natural gas is not a perfect fuel, but it is the greenest of the

hydrocarbons.• In order to get away from using hydrocarbons, we have only

one choice.• Nuclear power.

References• Bryce, Robert. Power Hungry: The Myths of "green" Energy

and the Real Fuels of the Future. New York, NY: PublicAffairs, 2010. Print.